My team uses Optimizely Data Platform as a CDP and ESP. The tool makes it easy for us to store and use data, and we also regularly use it for additional tasks such as reporting, sending surveys to customers, and setting up onsite captures or pop-ups. It has been a sufficient tool to run both drip campaigns and promotional/one-time emails.
Pros
Drip Campaigns - ease of setup & reporting.
Onsite Forms - again, ease of setup.
Data Manipulation.
Cons
A/B testing within priority groups.
Ability to delete custom fields.
Support team could be quicker to solve larger problems.
Likelihood to Recommend
Optimizely Data Platform is a great tool for teams who look to use open-source tools over tools with white glove service. You do get a dedicated customer success manager and access to their (almost) 24/7 support team via chat, but the real benefits of the platform stand to be unlocked by teams who enjoy getting their hands dirty.
We rely on Optimizely Data Platform on a daily basis to execute our email marketing plan, allowing us to adequately segment our audience for targeted communications as well as trigger automated messages like cart and browse abandonment, welcome series, win-back, and anniversary campaigns.
Pros
It's relatively simple to use
Segment building is quick and can be easily customized with field data
Chat support is generally fast to respond
Cons
Needs a more robust SMS marketing tool
Wish we had more control over reporting (e.g customizing the attribution model)
Account service has been lacking since Optimizely Data Platform takeover
Likelihood to Recommend
During high-volume communication times such as Black Friday and the holidays, Optimizely Data Platform's ability to allow us to seamlessly target (or exclude) certain audiences has enabled us to effectively interact with our customers without overdoing things. However, we would like to have the ability to send auto-order updates during peak volume times, as this would alleviate pressure on our customer service department.
Optimizely Data Platform is used to manage product content and drive product taxonomy and classifications.
Pros
It is extremely user friendly.
It is very flexible and allows me to make product adjustments at a large scale quickly and efficiently.
Cons
Automation of data from other platforms such as our ERP.
The approval process needs work. I should be able to flag fields that have issues and give users feedback if a product is rejected.
Likelihood to Recommend
Optimizely Data Platform is great for organizing product data and updating the content, but there is a struggle to create one-pages for specific groups of products to target customers. There is also a lot of frustration with parent child relationships.
I use the platform for email and mms marketing. The platform allows me to combine in store purchases with website activity in order to create more relevant marketing audiences.
Pros
marketing segment creation
Cons
Reporting
Pop ups
UX
Likelihood to Recommend
You can easily create custom marketing audiences and sync them to marketing channels.
Zaius is currently being utilized by our marketing team to identify customer behavior and to build segments. We also have access to one of their data analysts who provide monthly custom reports to our finance team.
Pros
UI/UX - The platform is extremely fluid and intuitive.
Setup - It has a speedy integration with our Shopify platform.
Insightful - Building segments is easy and gives us the information we need to make proper business decisions.
Cons
Email - While segmentation is robust, there are still key items missing from the ESP offering when comparing to other competitors.
Data Mismatch - I can never get numbers to matchup, so we have to take the information as directional.
Likelihood to Recommend
Zaius would be a great first tool for someone that is looking for general customer analytics and an email platform all in one. If you already have a data solution and a separate ESP like Klaviyo, I'm not sure I would recommend a transition.
<div>We use Zaius for email marketing, and unlike every other platform I have used over the past 15 years (I know, a scary long time), Zaius is the first that basically does not impose limitations on our ideas for how we want to market.
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</div><div>For example, they can do the usual email suspects, such as cart abandonment and browse abandonment. But I hate getting browse abandonment emails for products I looked at once and never went back to. Or when I bought something else in the same category as what I looked at, I sure as heck do not need a reminder email about looking at that again. With Zaius, we simply do not send out browse abandonment emails unless someone has looked at the same item X number of times within Y number of hours or days, and did not add something from the same category to my cart.</div><div>
</div><div>That is just a simple example of how Zaius allows us to pretty much put into action virtually any idea we want easily. It allows us to do things way more intricate than that WITHOUT THEM HAVING TO DO ANYTHING. Once you learn the system, what you can do on your own is astounding.
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Pros
Support. This is the Achilles heel for so many companies, not here. They are top flight and the best part is they have so little turnover. Everyone I worked with three years ago is still there. In different positions at the time, but still there and they still help us when needed. That is VERY reassuring.
Product Roadmap. They are always working on the platform, always moving forward and always listening to their customers. Maybe with me, they pretend to listen, but things get done! :)
Their people. A company is only as good as its people, and these folks are genuinely engaged and caring. I love that.
Transparent. Whenever there is any technical issue with the platform, I get an email telling me exactly what is happening, how it effects their service and that they are working on it. This is honesty at its best.
Cons
They finally have gotten on-site recommendations, hooray! I wish it happened sooner, and it is still early in its development, so I would say some things take longer than I would hope to do. But who does not feel that way about everyone? The key here is it gets done, and they keep improving things, which I love.
I would like there to be more opportunities to use it outside of eCommerce. I would love to use it for content-specific sites, but honestly, that is not what it was built for, so I will shut up about that now.
Likelihood to Recommend
Ecommerce, for sure. They have a record of every action that every site visitor has made since we started working with them. We then enriched their database with five years of customer transactions to build a VERY detailed look at our customers. And after they helped us import one month's worth of data, we did the other 4 years and 11 months on our own. That right there gives you some insights into how much they are into empowering their customers and not nickel and dime-ing them to death.
